Tuesday, May 31, 2005

You are Commander's Palace, a grand old dame of theGarden District. Traditional yet alwaysvibrant, you are never afraid of innovation butyou seldom carry it too far. Some locals claimyou have become a tourist trap, but your loyalpatrons know there is no restaurant in townthat treats its regulars with more finesse.

Marylynn, who is expanding my knowledge of odd Northern Ontario terminology despite the fact she's in California, tagged me for a meme. It's the music one.

Total volume of music files on my computer:672 songs, or 2.49 Gb. Yeah, it's not a lot right now, but I'm in the process of copying some of my CDs to the hard drive to boost the numbers. Back in the heyday of Napster, I had somewhere in the neighbourhood of 700 songs - I still have most of them backed up on a bunch of CDs, but I don't always copy all of them back onto my hard drive after I reformat it.

The last CD I bought was:Heh. I found out I'd been tagged Saturday afternoon, and earlier in the day I'd broke down and bought an actual CD (I've been doing a lot of iTuning lately). Rufus Wainwright's "Want Two" is sitting on my desk in front of me, having listened to it quite a few times since then. It's going to take a few more listenings to before it becomes my new favourite CD - I'm still hung up on "Poses," which I downloaded before going to The Soo.

Song playing right now:463 - Buck 65. It still reminds me of the five-hour drive between Timmins and Sudbury down the 144 - there are exactly two towns on that route, and before you turn onto the 144, there's a big sign that says "Last Gas for 100km." It kind of freaked me out, so I went back to the nearest gas station and filled up.

Five songs I listen to a lot, or that mean a lot to me:You're kidding, right? Just five? I'll see what I can do...

Angel - Aerosmith. My all-time favourite power-ballad.Barrett's Privateers - Stan Rodgers. The best song to sing at full volume while drunk in a bar in Halifax.April Fools - Rufus Wainwright. I was going to a job interview in Charlottetown, and decided to take the Confederation Bridge (aka The Span of Green Gables) across. What I didn't realize was exactly how long it was and how high it was - and I'm afraid of heights and open water (don't ask). The only thing that kept me from a full-blown panic attack was playing this song over and over and singing along.Go - The Apples in Stereo. Reminds me of my trip to Edmonton - I heard this in a record store on White Ave. and bought the CD.Not Ready to Go - The Trews. My theme song when I moved to Sudbury.

There's one other song, but I don't even know the song title or who sang it. On the morning I left for Halifax to go to grad school, I woke up and heard this song on the radio, just a singer and a guitar; something about a cathedral and a wedding. For the longest time, I thought it might have been Ron Sexsmith, but I can't find anything of his that sounds remotely like that song.

Five people to whom I am passing the baton:Lisa (since Denise still hasn't done the last meme I tagged her for!)PhillipJulieAmanda (I think you may have been tagged with this once before, but I can't remember!)Karen

Monday, May 30, 2005

The second part of Sunday's festivities (see below for the first part) involved dyeing some white Briggs & Little single-ply Durasport yarn I'd had laying around for a few months. Lisa successfully dyed some Paton's Kroy just after Easter, and inspired by her success*, I decided to dye my yarn. But while she used egg dye, I went with Kool-aid**.

First step - laying everything out.

(From l to r: the Kool-aid, measuring cup, glass pie plate, and metal bowl with yarn. The toaster oven and electric kettle watch on with interest.)

To get the yarn to soak up the colour, it needs to be "bathed" in warmish water with a splash of vinegar. The vinegar is very important - it prevents to colour from running later on.

("Ack!" the yarn is saying. "Can't you see I'm naked??")

I divided the yarn into three sections, secured them loosely with elastics, and got the first colour ready.

I poured this over the first section and let it sit in the pie plate.

It was tricky dumping the dye out, gently squeezing out the excess moisture, and laying it out to dye the second section. Eventually, to prevent the colours from smearing on each other, I put them in plastic freezer bags, which also made the microwaving easier.

The next two sections went much like the first section.

So, now I put the whole thing into my teeny-tiny microwave*** and nuke it for two minutes, let it sit for two minutes, and then nuke it for another two minutes.

Now it comes out of the microwave and cools off. The yarn was kind of stressed out at this point, so I let it sit on the balcony and have the rest of my beer.

("Black Label? This is all you got?")

Then the rinsing. I was worried that the dye would run and ruin the other parts, but that's why you use vinegar - it helps to set the colour and prevent run-off.

(The yarn is having its second bath of the day. But still no bubbles!)

Once it's been rinsed off, you let it dry. Here's the yarn hanging out in my shower for the rest of the night.

This morning, it was almost dry, so I put in on my drying rack beside my balcony door. Parts of the orange still aren't dry, but it won't be much longer now.

*It wasn't until after I realized I'd used almost the same colours she did, but we have very different shades in the end.**There are a myriad of instructions on how to Kool-aid dye yarn. I ended up using a variation on the more popular method. But, basically, they all say the same thing.***Denise gave me the microwave when she upgraded. I wasn't going to take it, but I'm glad I did. It may be small, but it's big enough for what I use it for, namely, reheating leftovers.

Sunday afternoon I decided I didn't have enough excitement in my life, so I decided to undertake two major, first-time projects, and call it "Operation Let's See How Much Chaos I Can Create In My Tiny Kitchen." The first project was to cook my very first pot roast, which doesn't sound difficult, except that I've been known to badly screw up simpler recipies.

I started by browning the roast with a little oil and flour.

Then I added a half cup of beer. (Black Label, if you must know.)

I hit a little snag when I had to call my mother to find out what temperature I put it in the oven on. "Um, it's called *pot* roast. You cook it on the stovetop." Thanks Mom!

I cooked the pot roast on the stove for about an hour, with the cover on. After the hour, I added the carrots and the onion.

I also added a little more beer...

...and celebrated getting to this point without any major screw ups.

Now I let it simmer for another hour and a half. After that time, this is what it looks like.

I peeled the potatoes to make mashed potatoes.

And voila! The final product!

It was good. Very tasty and tender, and I'm having the leftovers tonight.

Sunday, May 29, 2005

On Saturday night, I got caught up in an episode of "Cold Squad" (which was quite good, by the way). The only problem was that there were two actors who I knew I'd seen elsewhere recently, and it was bugging me that I couldn't figure out where I'd seen them.

The first was a blond, bland-looking detective, and it only took a few minutes to remember that I'd seen Sonja Bennett on "Godiva's" recently. (Can anyone tell me if it's coming back? Except for Bennett's character, I enjoyed the show.)

The second actor was much harder, and I didn't remember until this afternoon. He was an officer, mostly a secondary character with a few lines, and no one said his character's name, so it was going to be difficult to figure out who he was. While watching "Farscape" this afternoon, it hit me - it was the actor who'd played Helo on "Battlestar Galactica," Tahmoh Penikett.

It's been an eventful day. And I have the photos to prove it. But first, let's start with why I'm not prepared to share them with you just yet.

Last night, the fire alarm went off. I wasn't going to go down but the sign beside the elevator says to go down as soon as you hear the alarm.

I took this one from the stairwell on the 7th floor.

Not many other people went down either.

And now, the guest of honour...

Tonight, as I was sitting down to upload my pictures from the day's activities, the fire alarm went off again. I didn't get excited, and was prepared to ride out the all-pervasive noise of the alarm in my apartment.

Until I wandered past the door and smelled smoke.

Proving once and for all that I am indeed the Gadget Princess, I grabbed my camera and the iPod and threw them in my purse (and then grabbed my wallet), threw on a sweater, and hustled downstairs.

There were a lot more people outside this time, and we were out there for almost an hour and a half. In the meantime, I wandered over to McDonalds for a McFlurry, of which I only ate about half before I got cold and bored, so I threw it out and wandered back to the building.

I didn't take any pictures this time, because there was no subtle way to take pictures of the hunky firefighters (well, the two hunky firefighters) and the cute paramedic.

Over the past week, I've developed a fond relationship with my new iPod mini. I brought it with me last week, although I was disappointed how fast the battery runs out. One of the major reasons I bought it was so that I wouldn't have to lug my discman and case of CDs with me every time I went on a road trip. To this end, I also got the iTrip for my long journeys. Essentially, the iTrip broadcasts a signal on an empty radio frequency so you can listen to your iPod through the car's stereo. Brilliant!

I didn't have time to set it up last Monday, so I installed the program this morning. To test it, I set it up to broadcast through my stereo in my apartment - and it works! I can now listen to my mp3 collection without having to turn my computer on!

However, when I tried to get it to work in my car this morning, I ran into a problem. Even though there aren't many radio stations in Sudbury, there seems to be a lot of blending, so that I had a hard time finding an empty frequency. Or I wasn't setting it up properly. One or the other. So I tried plugging the iPod into the tape deck thingy for the discman, and lo and behold, that works with the iPod as well!

The moral of this story is that, even if I can't get the iTrip to work in my car, it has household uses. The second moral of this story is that, even if I can't get the iTrip to work in my car, I do have another device to make it work.

Saturday, May 28, 2005

So yes, I'm back. The Soo still stands, although it's a more organized place now. I'm still exhausted despite a day spent doing not much besides grocery shopping and napping. But enough about today! How was the last week?

Not too bad, actually. Work-wise, I felt that my first presentation fell flat on its ass, but the other two went quite well. I only saw one other presentation besides the ones I presented, and it was interesting. It was great to see some familiar faces, and put faces to names I've heard on the phone and seen in emails. It was also nice to see everyone from our TBay office in one place again.

Social-wise, we were all too busy and tired to do much socializing or painting the town any colour in particular. Karen and I went over to a midway Tuesday afternoon, but the rides were expensive and there wasn't really much there. Karen, myself, and two other co-workers went out Wednesday night - I'd consumed three margaritas earlier in the evening and it turns out that I was tipsier than I thought (I wasn't driving). In all, I drank this year's and next year's quota of margaritas and pina coladas. But I wasn't driving and didn't dance on any tables, so no harm no foul.

Monday I have an office full of papers to look forward to, as well as a list as long as my arm of things I need to remember to do and people to contact. I will be enjoying my last day of blissful freedom tomorrow, let me tell you.

Monday, May 23, 2005

Seriously, I wish I could give you more other than a brief wave as I dash off on another adventure, or promise you that I'll write more later, but it's going to be a while before I can do that. I can and will leave you with this:

I have a great family, and I had a great trip home.

I got a digital camera and an iPod Mini on Friday. I've played with the camera, but the iPod is charging right now.

The second oldest Jedi mind trick is the Cast-Iron Frying Pan to the Head. (The oldest Jedi mind trick is, "Look! Over there! What's that?") [1]

Thursday, May 19, 2005

(WARNING: there may be spoilers, depending on how much you know about what happens in episodes 4-7.)

It was okay. The action sequences rocked solid. The lightsabre duels, especially the final one, were things of beauty to watch.

The parts when characters spoke to each other? Not so good. I've never heard such wooden and forced dialogue. And the chemistry between Anakin and Padme? Non-existent. There was more chemisty between Anakin and Obi-wan. Hell, there was more chemistry between Yoda and Darth Siduous (the Emperor).

My biggest complaint? General Grievous. Okay, he was a cool bad guy, and his fight sequences were works of art. But why in the name of all that's good and holy would you program a robot to have asthma? He's part biological (a very small part, if I observed correctly), but why make him wheeze and cough constantly?

Overall, it was good - I was very sad when Anakin became Darth Vader, and he found out that Padme had died. Boo-hoo.

In general, I enjoyed the experience, although I'd kill for another three hours of sleep. The posse of us arrived just after 10:30 to stand in line, but they were letting people in right away. The ticket taker told us they had been letting people in since 6pm. Yikes! And it was showing on four screens - our theater was mostly full, and there was a great deal of camaraderie between us all. Some people (including Douglas) came with costumes and lightsabres, but I think Kris had the market on sleepwear - if I'd've been smart, I would have worn my pj's as well. Would have saved me two minutes when I got home.

Anyways - go see the movie (*waves hand*). You want to go see this movie (*waves hand*). You will not get the large drink because it's a long movie and you don't want to have to go to the bathroom in the middle of an important part (*waves hand*).

Wednesday, May 18, 2005

This is just to let you all know that blogging will be light for the next week or so. I'm heading south for the long weekend, and the day after I get back I'm heading west for a week. Then I'm back for two weeks, and then I'm on the road again. More about that later.

I'll leave you with this. Pictures from the belly dancing recital. No, I'm not going to tell you which one I am - I'll leave that to your imaginations.

Tuesday, May 17, 2005

A few months back, I posted the top fifteen songs I've been listening to in iTunes. Because I should be doing something right now (but can't remember what), here's the top fifteen songs for the past two months.

Que' Onda Guero - Beck

C'mon C'mon - The Von Bondies (48)

We Used to Be Friends - The Dandy Warhols (45)

Club Foot - Kasabian (40)

E-Pro - Beck (38)

Up On Cripple Creek - The Band (34)

Get Right - Jennifer Lopez (32) (I heard she was tired of being called J.Lo.)

Leave Home - Chemical Brothers (29)

Back in Black - AC/DC

(Night Time is) The Right Time - Ray Charles (28)

Wouldn't It Be Nice - The Beach Boys (27)

Locked Out - Crowded House (27)

Mississippi Queen - Mountain (the Ozzy Osbourne version is a travesty) (27)

Monday, May 16, 2005

I don't know why I don't just call a spade a spade and call this blog "I'm Going To Bitch About Stuff Now." It's probably more accurate. (This is to say, it's been a day of highs and lows.) Witness:

The Major Fall: dropping a bag of chocolate chips on the kitchen counter and watching it explode all over the place. I was already running late, and this would make me even more late.

The Minor Lift: listening to classic Bon Jovi on the way to work.

The Major Fall: being late to work.

The Major Fall: having to deal with fifteen impossible questions before 9am.

The Major Fall: forgetting to call someone for clarification about a problem they were having. Will call in the morning.

The Major Fall: eating a donut and a chocolate danish at lunch.

The Major Fall: realizing I have less than a week before I have to do three presentations at a conference next week.

The Minor Lift: Karen calling me at random times and singing, "Liverpool! LIVERPOOL!"

The Major Fall: the cork in the bottle of wine I was trying to open would. Not. Come. Out. Seriously, it took me ten minutes to get it halfway out, and then it broke in half. Great.

The Minor Lift: finding out that next Monday is the season premier of Queer as Folk.

The Major Fall: confirmation that this is the last season of QaF.

The Minor Lift: going for a really long walk tonight - my usual route, plus a trip down to the postal outlet to pick up a parcel from Chapters.

The Major Fall: getting to the postal outlet and finding out that it closes at 6 on Mondays. It was 7:15.

The Minor Lift: getting a call from Karen, saying that she was able to get us all (Karen, Kris, Kevin, Douglas (Karen's brother) and I) tickets to the midnight showing of Revenge of the Sith on Wednesday.

The Major Fall: finding out that yet another 2 liter carton of milk has gone bad in my fridge. It's only been open for a few days.

And for some reason, I'm feeling compelled to tell you that I accomplished nothing useful again tonight, except to heap the leftover sewing supplies in a pile in the middle of the dining room table. I guess the laundry, mail pile, packing, fridge cleaning, and reading will have to wait until tomorrow.

In the end, copious amounts of knitting and movie-watching were done this past weekend. I've finally started a sock that will fit (at least at first - all bets are off after the first time I wash it). Karen swung by last night to use "my" drier, since the one she was using decided to stop working. While waiting for the stuff to drive, we watched Formula 51 ("Liverpool! LIVERPOOL!")

Things that did not get done this weekend include my own laundry (I have until Wednesday to do this), unpacking my briefcase from my trip to Parry Sound, cleaning off my desk, and picking up the sewing crap on my dining room table. Seriously, there's still sequins, beads, fringe, interfacing, scraps, thread, ribbons, and pattern pieces scattered about. Oh, and the containers I bought at the dollar store to put it all in.

Saturday, May 14, 2005

I was looking forward to this weekend to do nothing but watch the cheap movies I bought at Zeller's last week (Zoolander, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Bulletproof Monk) as well as finish watching season 1 of Futurama. But, low and behold! An email notification from the library that season 4 of Farscape was ready for me to be picked up - sweet!

Alas! It was season 4, but volume 4. So I had four episodes from somewhere in the middle of the season. And not only that, I didn't check the DVDs carefully when I put them in the player, and ended up watching them in the wrong order. I saw Aeryn being tortured before she was even captured.

And there's no way to reserve volume 1 before volume 4, at least online. You put your name on the reserve list, and you get the first volume returned. Or that's the way it seems to be working. The cataloguer in me is banging her head against the desk - surely, there is a better way to do this.

Plus, the toe-up sock I've frogged four times now is about to be frogged a fifth time. The fourth time it was too big. Now it's too small. I can't seem to get it right.

Friday, May 13, 2005

So yes, I've just returned from the lovely town of Parry Sound after three days. Without access to the internet. I'm experiencing withdrawl symptoms, but they will pass. Right now, I'm so tired, I don't know what to do first - put my pj's on or fall asleep.

I can't think of anything rational or coherent to post about, so pj's and bed it is!

Monday, May 09, 2005

This sucks. I've been having a series of bad days for the past three weeks. Just... stuff. And to top it off, I've got this buttery-lung thing going on that makes waking up a joy, the evenings coughtastic, and the rest of my days feel like I'm walking through fog. And not the good kind of fog either!

Oh, and feeling like my head is full of cotton batting isn't helping things much either. And I just sneezed and bit my tongue. Son of a bitch!

I want ice cream and chocolate, and lots of it, stat!

(Special note to Elaine, June and Stephanie, Josh, and Heather H. - I owe you all an email. It's coming soon - trust me!)

Sunday, May 08, 2005

Everything went smoothly (for the most part), and the two big group numbers had the impact we hoped for. (The intermission piece ended on a very dramatic note, with everyone holding their pose as the curtains close - the audience gasped, and started cheering. The finale was an energetic piece, with everyone coming on and off stage, wearing their most elaborate costume.)

Since I only had four pieces and four very minor costume changes (basically, red coin belt to gold belt to overskirt and gold belt to overskirt and white coin belt), I was Karen's assistant, since her costume changes were significantly more complicated, elaborate, and frequent. The only major meltdown came when her sash started falling off during the longest piece, the cane dance - she recovered nicely by pulling it up while balancing the cane on her head. It generated significant applause, and afterwards she beat me soundly for my failure to make sure the sash was secured (kidding! I was almost in tears and she and another dancer had to talk me down off the edge.)

My meltdown came during the finale, when I skipped over an entire bit and started on the next move - fortunately, the woman who was next to me grabbed me and turned me back around. Naturally, this occurred when I was front row centre.

Kris and her boyfriend, Karen's mom (Mrs. T), and Marty and her boyfriend had the best seats - in the middle of the centre row. They were a great focal point, and kept waving and cheering when Karen or I came onstage.

Saturday, May 07, 2005

I did something this afternoon that will no doubt cause my mother and my sister Rachelle to swell with pride and bring a tear of joy to their eyes.

I went out and bought foundation.

But not just foundation - oh no. Lancome (can't do the wacky accent thing) foundation.

And not only did I buy Lancome foundation, I also got the bonus gift. Full of things that I already have and don't use. Except for the facial wash.

(When I went to put some on, the dregs in the bottle of foundation I have had dried up. I guess that happens when you don't use it in over a year. And I can't get away without using it - I look blotchy and pale on stage without it. So, I did actually need it.)

The show is tonight. I'm not nervous yet, although I'm worried that instead of freezing up on stage, I'll burst into hysterical laughter at the wrong moment, which is more along the lines of something I'd do.

Oh, wait. Now I'm nervous. Thanks, Self - I knew I could count on you to mess up any possibility of having a nap this afternoon.

Tuesday, May 03, 2005

Well, I'm back from rehearsal. I've been back for a while, but just doing other things. Like drinking a vodka mudslide on a half-empty stomach, which probably wasn't the best idea in the world. But then again, I'm not know for my stellar wisdom. Whatever. Anyways....

Most of the past weekend was spent camped out on a couch somewhere, either here or at Karen's, sewing or pinning or doing something crafty. And watching a lot of movies.

Friday night - sewing sequin strings onto the skirt and watching "The Hebrew Hammer." Meh. It was okay, and downright funny in parts, but I don't much care for Andy Dick. Loved him in News Radio, but not much fond of his post-NR stuff. A good movie if you want an over-the-top Jewish comedy - it's kind of like Shaft, only more kosher.

Saturday - mostly working on the bra, which took all day. Not many movies were watched until I got to Karen's, where she, Kris and I crashed. Despite all the pinning and basting and fiddling with costume bits, it was a fairly PG evening. The highlight was Kris telling me I have a nice ass. Awww! Thanks! We watched "To Wong Fu, Thanks For Everything! Julie Newmar" (I must confess that the first time I ever saw this movie, I didn't know who Julie Newmar was, and I thought she was another drag queen. Sorry.) We started watching "True Lies" but Kris and I were really tired and left early, around 1am.

Sunday - finished the bra, including sequins, almost finished the skirt, and watched a ton of movies.

Wilby Wonderful - a nice little Canadian film. It was filmed in Nova Scotia, and the atmosphere was perfect - I knew exactly what the temperature was like, and how the air would smell, there being considerable evidence of recent rainfall, plus the town being beside the ocean.

New Waterford Girl - one of my all-time favourites, again for the atmosphere. The village in the movie reminds me of the village near where my dad is from, and again, I know what it's like there. Nicholas Campbell is excellent as the father.

The Love Letter - my other all-time favourite movie, if only because I occasionally like sappy romance movies.

The Piano Teacher - Gah. Did not like this one. At all. Since it was in French, I ended up knitting while watching this since I needed to sit near the TV to read the subtitles. It was cruel, it was sad, it was angry, and the last scene made absolutely no sense.

And the last three episodes of "Firefly". I started rewatching them, but this time with the commentaries.

GAH! I was thinking about what I would write about on my way home, and have completely forgotten what I was going to say, only that I would have to say it quickly. And not get distracted before the ten minutes are up. I have the attention span of a flea or a golden retriever - you have only to wave in my direction, and I'll forget what I'm doing and wander off to see what the commotion is about.

On the other hand, I also have the ability to focus on something to the detriment of other things. Like, I wanted to blog and eat when I got home, but no - I decided that it was more important to sew the snaps onto my gold belt because tonight is our first dress rehearsal, and the gold belt is the only thing that isn't wearable yet. I was quite hungry and keen to post, but no - the sewing came first. When I realized that I'd sewn half of the snap on upsidedown, I gave up and got something to eat. I can fix that when I get home tonight.

That didn't really illustrate my point, did it? Huh. Anyways...

So yes - first dress rehearsal tonight. My skirt is completely done - the last of the sequins got sewn on last night. The gold bra is 98% done - I still need to make a flap to hide the hooks in the back, but that will take about an hour and can also be done tonight or tomorrow. Something like that.

Four more minutes.

I am giving serious thought to purchasing a digital camera. Due to my somewhat impulsive nature, I've decided that I need it NOW, and want to go on Friday afternoon to purchase it. However, since it's a big-ticket item, I may be able to restrain myself until I've done some research into the matter. But, in the meantime, maybe you guys can tell me what kind of digital camera you have and whether or not you would recommend it. Just to give me something to go on.

Oh dear. The ideas have completely dried up. I was going to tell you about the movies I watched this weekend while I was sewing, but that will have to wait until later. They were mostly good, with one confusing exception.